Chatbots Portals - Start One Bot From Another

You've probably heard the word 'portal' before. A portal provides access from one place to another - it acts as a direct link. At Tidio, portals is what we call the act of triggering one bot from another. 

Currently, there are two different ways of creating a portal. The first (and more flexible) method makes use of the dedicated action called To Another Chatbot (and the optional trigger From Another Chatbot). The second method uses the action called Decision (Quick Replies), and makes it work with the trigger Visitor Says to create a working portal.

In this article, you'll learn:

• How to create a portal with To Another Chatbot
• How to create a portal with Decision and Visitor Says

Creating a portal - method #1

To create a working portal, you need two bots: one will act as the source, while the other will act as the target.

The source bot requires the To Another Chatbot action in order to allow a connection with the target bot of your choice. The target bot, which you want to launch from the source bot, does not require any special trigger or setup - you can connect any bot this way!

To Another Chatbot - the action

The available target bots will be listed in a dropdown menu inside the To Another Chatbot action:

When you select a target bot in the To Another Chatbot action, you get the option to directly open that bot in the editor - by clicking on Open selected chatbot. This lets you view and customize the target bot, if necessary:

In practice, the target bot will be triggered when your website visitor reaches the To Another Chatbot action while using the source bot. Effectively, reaching this step in the flow ends the visitor's interaction with the source bot, and the target bot takes over. Ideally, this transition won't even be noticeable for the visitor!

From Another Chatbot - the trigger

There also exists a dedicated trigger called From Another Chatbot. It is not required to make your portals work, but it can still be very useful. With this dedicated portal trigger, you can create a unique bot that won't work any other way - it would only be launched if a source bot targets it specifically, with its To Another Chatbot action.

A practical example

The source bot pictured below allows the visitor to select one of two options, each leading to a different To Another Chatbot action. Each of these actions is linked to a completely separate bot that already exists in the Tidio account.

The source bot shown above can trigger any other bot that you currently have in your list.

The particular To Another Chatbot action below is linked to the 'FAQ' bot - a bot that is normally triggered by clicking on the Tidio chat icon. Thanks to this setup, the FAQ bot can also be triggered by the portal:

The second To Another Chatbot action is linked to a different bot - one called 'Returns policy' in this example. This specific bot uses only one trigger: From Another Chatbot. This ensures that the 'Returns policy' bot can only be triggered by the main source bot, thanks to the portal.

Below you can see this portal in action. After finishing the source bot's flow, the separate target bot is started and takes over:

Creating a portal - method #2

This method brings similar results, but uses a different action as well as different trigger in the two bots you're connecting. This used to be the only method in the past, before we've introduced the dedicated To Another Chatbot action (described in method #1 above). In this method, however, you are required to use a specific combination of action and trigger.

Decision (Quick Replies) and Visitor Says - working together

The source bot requires the Decision (Quick Replies) action in order to allow a connection with the target bot. The target bot, which you want to launch from the source bot, needs to use the Visitor Says trigger. Please note that other Decision actions will not work here!

In practice, the target Visitor Says bot can be triggered when your website visitor clicks on one of the buttons inside the Decision (Quick Replies) action - as long as the button is not connected to any other actions:

To make the portal complete, the target bot's Visitor Says trigger needs to include the exact same text that is used in the Decision (Quick Replies) button:

When a visitor clicks that button, it basically acts like a message sent by that visitor; the target Visitor Says bot will recognise that message and trigger accordingly.

Take a look at our video where we explain how to create a portal between two chatbots using this method:

A practical example

Pictured below, you can see a bot with the Decision (Quick Replies) action - that's the source bot in this example. The two buttons in the Decision node are not connected to any other action - the bot effectively ends there.

The bot above (the source bot) can trigger another bot with the Visitor Says trigger (the target bot), as long as the trigger includes the exact same message as the button from the first bot. 

Below you can see the target bot setup - with the Visitor Says trigger, which includes the same phrase as one of the buttons in the source bot.

Below you can see this portal in action. After clicking on the button - the source bot triggers the target bot: